SEC Orders Ex-Syntax-Brillian Officer to Pay $48.5m

Jack Humphrey, Regulatory journalist

January 16, 2012 /

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered Thomas Chow, the former Syntax- Brillian Corp. (BRLCQ) chief procurement officer, to pay $48.5 million for failing to respond to an insider trading lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix entered the default judgment against Chow at the request of the federal agency.

Chow was ordered to pay $10.4 million in disgorgement, $2.57 million in prejudgment interest, a $4.68 million civil penalty, and a $30.9 million insider trading penalty.

In August 2011, the SEC charged Chow and two other former executives at the Tempe, Arizona-based maker of HD televisions, including Olevia, with booking phony sales to artificially inflate the company’s earnings.

The two other former executives agreed to settle the SEC’s charges last year.

In a letter asking the court to enter the default judgment, the SEC lawyers said: “In the period when the price of Syntax’s stock was artificially inflated as a result of the fraudulent scheme, Chow, in possession of material non-public information about the scheme, sold nearly 2 million shares, and reaped illicit proceeds of more than $12.6 million.”

The January 10 letter added that Chow failed to respond to the SEC’s allegations.